Orchard Hill remains undefeated, 3-0, in Joe Barry Cup play; Enigma and Coca-Cola register wins

Orchard Hill (Steve Van Andel, Lucas Criado, Facundo Pieres and Remy Muller) continued to impress as they racked up a 12-11 win over Lechuza (Victor Vargas, Marcos Alberdi, Juan Martin Nero and Martin Espain) Thursday afternoon in the 2015 20-goal Joe Barry memorial Cup at the International Polo Club for a perfect 3-0 record in Bracket II competition.

Ten-goaler Facundo Pieres scored the first goal of the game in the opening minute of play followed by a goal from Lucas Criado for a 2-0 lead.  The Orchard Hill defense held solid, blanking Lechuza Caracas in the first chukker of play.

Lechuza Caracas 10-goaler, Juan Martin Nero, finally got his team on the scoreboard two minutes into the second period, 2-1.  Criado took control of the ball in the next two consecutive throw-ins, and raced down the field for goals, 4-1.  Lechuza Caracas rallied for the final two goals of the chukker, with Martin Espain scoring at the 1:56 mark, and teammate Marcos Alberdi splitting the Orchard Hill goalposts with just 27 seconds on the clock.   Orchard Hill continued to lead, but the margin had been cut to a single goal, 4-3.

Third chukker goals from Criado and Pieres had Orchard Hill leading by three goals, 6-3, but Lechuza Caracas staged another mini-rally.  Nero scored with just two minutes on the clock, 6-4, and Alberdi added a goal with just 27 seconds showing.  The Orchard Hill lead remained at one goal at the end of the first half, 6-5.

Lechuza Caracas team captain, Victor Vargas tied the game at 6-6 in the opening minute of the fourth period.  Two minutes later, Remy Muller put a goal on the scoreboard for Orchard Hill to take back the lead for Orchard Hill, 7-6.  Pieres closed out the period with a 30-yard penalty conversion as Orchard Hill rode off the field with a two goal, 8-6 lead.

Orchard Hill tore into the Lechuza Caracas defense in the fifth, scoring four consecutive goals.  Pieres and Criado each added a pair of goals to the Orchard Hill, stretching the lead to six goals, 12-6.  Nero answered back by taking the following throw-in and galloping down the field for the final goal of the chukker.  With one period left in regulation time, Orchard Hill held a five goal, 12-7 advantage. Lechuza Caracas made a run at Orchard Hill in the final period of the game with Alberdi scoring on a back hand shot, 12-8, and Nero scoring from the field less than a minute later as they cut the Orchard Hill lead to three goals, 12-9, with 5:16 left to play.  Nero took advantage of an Orchard Hill foul by converting a 30-yard penalty shot at 3:17, but time continued to run down with Orchard Hill content to run out the clock.  Alberdi scored the final goal of the game with little to no opposition from Orchard Hill as they celebrated the 12-11win.

Criado scored a game-high six goals, all from the field.  Pieres scored just one of his five goals on a penalty shot with Muller adding a goal for the victory.  Nero scored five times for Lechuza Caracas (two on penalty shots).  Alberdi added two goals with Vargas and Espain each scoring once in a losing effort.

Enigma 13, Merchant Hub 11

Earlier in the afternoon, Jerome Worth’s Enigma team (Jerome Wirth, Jeff Hall, Matias MacDonough and Carlucho Arellano) recorded their first win of the 2015 season with a hard-fought 13-11 win over Merchant Hub (Scott Swerdlin, Marianito Obregon, Facundo Obregon and Luis Escobar).

Carlucho Arellano scored the first goal of the game in the opening 30 seconds of play to tie it at 1-1 (Merchant Hub received one goal by handicap from the 20-goal Enigma team).  Nearly five scoreless minutes passed until Marianito Obregon gave the lead to Merchant Hub on a goal from the field.  Matias MacDonough tied the score at 2-2 on a 30-yard penalty conversion at the 1:40 mark to end the chukker.

MacDonough and Luis Escobar exchanged goals in the second period to keep it all even at 3-3 until the Enigma offense exploded.  Jeff Hall and Arellano scored single goals from the field, and MacDonough converted a 60-yard penalty shot to end the chukker with Enigma enjoying a 6-3 lead.

Goals were scarce in the third, in a scoreless first five minutes.  Facundo Obregon converted a 30-yard penalty shot for a goal at the 2:14 mark 6-4.  On a great individual effort, Hall scored after making his way through what seemed like the entire Merchant Hub team; scoring the goal on the nearside (left) of his horse, 7-4.   MacDonough added the final score if the half with Enigma holding a comfortable four goal, 8-4 advantage.

Facundo Obregon converted a 30-yard penalty shot two-and-a-half minutes into the fourth chukker, 8-5.  MacDonough scored on a 60-yad penalty shot for Enigma, 9-5.  Consecutive goals from Facundo Obregon cut the Enigma lead down to just two goals, 9-7.  Arellano scored the final goal of the period to keep Enigma in front, 10-7.

Fifth chukker goals from Facundo Obregon (penalty shot) and Marianito Obregon (from the throw-in) brought Merchant Hub to within a goal of the lead, 10-9.  MacDonough converted a short penalty shot, 11-9.  Escobar scored the final goal of the period, and the Enigma lead remained at a fragile one goal, 11-10.

An early sixth chukker foul by Merchant Hub allowed MacDonough the opportunity to extend the Enigma lead on a 30-yard penalty shot, which he did for a 12-10 advantage.  Escobar countered with a goal from the field just a minute later, 12-11.  Hall scored the final goal of the contest at the 4:14 mark as Enigma held off a scrappy Merchant Hub attack for the final four minutes of the game for the 13-11 victory.

MacDonough led the Enigma attack by scoring six of his game-high seven goals on penalty conversions.  Hall and Arellano each scored three times for the win.  Facundo Obregon scored six times for Merchant Hub (four of them on penalty conversions).  Escobar and Marianito Obregon scored two goals each and the team received one goal by handicap.

Play continues in the Joe Barry Memorial Cup on Saturday, January 17^th with   Lucchese (2-0) facing Tonkawa (1-1) in a 10AM game followed by a noon meeting between Audi (1-1) and CT Energia (0-2).

Coca-Cola 13, FlexJet 8

Evidently the name change (FlexJet was formerly competing as Flight Options) didn’t agree with FlexJet (Melissa Ganzi Guille Aguero, Miguel Novillo Astrada and Juan Bollini) as they found themselves on the losing end of a 13-8 score at the hands of a talented Coca-Cola lineup (Gillian Johnston, Sugar Erskine, Julio Arellano and Mason Wroe) Thursday morning.

Miguel Novillo Astrada scored the first goal of the day on a 40-yard penalty conversion, but that was FlexJet’s last offensive statement of the chukker.  Coca-Cola stormed back with single goals from Mason Wroe, Gillian Johnston and Sugar Erskine.  Wroe scored on a well-executed backhander while Johnston’s score came on a 150-yard solo run for the goal.  Erskine tapped one between the goalposts with just 36 seconds on the clock for the 3-1 lead.

Coca-Cola continued to dominate in the second period with Julio Arellano scoring for a 4-1 advantage.  Astrada connected on a 60-yard penalty shot for another FlexJet goal, 4-2.  For the second time in as many chukkers Johnston found herself out in front with the ball, carrying t down the field for another goal for a 5-2 edge.  Arellano converted a 30-yard penalty shot for a goal and a 6-2 lead.

FlexJet perked up in the third, opening the chukker with goals from Juan Bollini and Astrada (penalty shot), 6-4. Arellano got Coca-Cola on the scoreboard with a 60-yard penalty goal, 7-4, with Astrada barreling the ball through the goalposts from 50 yards in front of the goal for a 7-5 halftime score.

FlexJet was held scoreless in the fourth while Coca-Cola continued to increase their lead. Goals from Arellano and Johnston accounted for the only scoring.  With two chukkers left in regulation play, Coca-Cola led by four goals, 9-5.   Defenders were at their best in the fifth with attack after attack being turned aside.  Arellano and Astrada exchanged single goals and the chukker ended with Coca-Cola in control of a 10-6 game.

Sixth chukker goals from Erskine scored the first goal of the final chukker in the opening 20 seconds of play, 11-6, and Arellano added another for a 12-6 advantage for Coca-Cola.  With just 3:48 left in the game, Guille Aguero scored his first goal of the day for FlexJet, 12-7.   Erskine stole the ball from a FlexJet player and raced 240-yards for a goal that put Coca-Cola in front, 13-7.   Astrada scored the final goal of the game at the :41 second mark as FlexJet suffered their first loss of the tournament, (1-1).  The Coca-Cola win was their first in three outings (1-2).

Arellano scored six goals for Coca-Cola.  Johnston and Erskine scored three goals apiece with Wroe chipping in a goal for the victory.  Astrada scored five goals for FlexJet.  Bollini and Aguero each added a goal in the loss.